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High-profile WA cases put matricide under the microscope

Recent cases in Western Australia of women murdered by their own sons have prompted calls for better research into the crime.

By Rebecca Peppiatt

It has to be one of the most heinous crimes imaginable; a child who kills the same person who loved and nurtured them their whole life.

In Australia, matricide is rarely talked about, poorly documented and largely misunderstood – but it is also increasingly common.

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, of the 84 domestic homicide victims nationally in 2022-23, 16 were the parent of their killer.

Last year in WA, three women were allegedly killed by their own sons. All three men have been remanded in custody while their matters proceed through the courts and have not entered any pleas to their charges.

Andre Rebelo and Callum Cameron were convicted in WA last year of murdering their mothers.

Andre Rebelo and Callum Cameron were convicted in WA last year of murdering their mothers.

But in November, 31-year-old Callum Cameron was sentenced to life in prison over the brutal stabbing of his mother, Carol, inside her St James home.

Carol Cameron was stabbed 62 times as paramedics watched on helplessly. She had called them for medical assistance for her son, who was suffering an overdose of psychedelic drugs after years of mental illness.

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Callum Cameron was given a life sentence with a non-parole period of 20 years.

The following month, 28-year-old Andre Rebelo was found guilty of murdering his mother, Colleen, inside her Bicton home. Her murder was premeditated – and the motive was money.

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Rebelo took out three life insurance policies in Colleen’s name just days before she was found dead in her shower.

He repeatedly denied any involvement but was found guilty by a jury after a two-month trial. He will be sentenced in April.

“The community are starting to think differently, and now we’re starting to realise that one of the most dangerous places you can actually be attacked in is in the family home,” former homicide detective Narelle Fraser said.

Fraser was part of the team that investigated the double murder of 69-year-old Margaret Wales-King and her 75-year-old husband Paul King in 2002 in Melbourne.

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She said officers were immediately suspicious of Wales-King’s 34-year-old son, Matthew Robert Wales, despite no prior history of violence of criminal behaviour.

Whenever police asked to speak to the family after the couple was reported missing, Matthew Wales was conspicuously absent.

Fraser said that looking back, it was obvious.

“Then we did a search of Matthew’s house and there were no doonas. It was a really strange thing.”

The couple was eventually found by park rangers dead in a shallow grave, wrapped in doonas.

Wales had spiked their food with medication and clubbed them over the head with a piece of wood as they attempted to leave his house when they felt unwell.

It was Wales’ four older siblings who told Fraser and her colleagues that they felt he had something to do with their deaths.

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“What we found out later was that he believed that he was being treated differently,” Fraser said.

That line of thought stemmed from Wales’ belief such treatment was because of his wife’s less-privileged upbringing, and Fraser said Wales had “a chip on his shoulder” that they didn’t have anywhere near the money his siblings did.

“He wanted to teach his mother a lesson.”

Matthew Wales on the day of his arrest in 2002.

Matthew Wales on the day of his arrest in 2002.Credit: Ben Richards

The Wales-King family were extremely rich, leading to the deaths being dubbed the Society Murders.

“I just thought it was so interesting that Matthew had never shown any violence, no prior offending, it was just out of nowhere,” Fraser said.

“But it was this, obviously, this gnawing, something gnawing away at him, like a jealousy or whatever, and he just decided, ‘You know what, I’ve had enough. I’m going to kill her’.”

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Fraser said that the reality was that Wales was the “golden child” of the family and his mum had doted on him.

Retired American university professor Kathleen Heide has written numerous books on parents murdered by their children.

She grouped parricides (the deaths of parents of either gender by their child) into three sections, believing they all stemmed from either mental illness, a history of severe abuse, or “to serve a selfish purpose”.

In her experience, Fraser said she believed substance abuse played a big part.

“Whether that’s drugs, whether it’s alcohol, but my belief is that is the main driver,” she said.

“I also think mental illness or mental health issues, and the fact that there are not enough support services and places for people to go to get an immediate response and immediate some help.

“My own view is that men these days are feeling inadequate. I think they’re feeling pressure, and they don’t know – they’ve not been encouraged, let’s say, to open up and talk about how they feel. And so what happens is it’s like a pressure cooker.”

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Fraser also pointed to violence on TV and movies: “I think a lot of people – a lot of younger people – grow up thinking that’s the way to deal with anger.”

Carol Cameron, 63, died after being stabbed by her son Callum who was in a drug psychosis.

Carol Cameron, 63, died after being stabbed by her son Callum who was in a drug psychosis.

Understanding parricide and matricide, however, is hindered by poor detailed statistics on the crime and little to no research conducted on it in Australia.

While a light has been shone recently on the deaths of women in domestic violence partner situations, few are talking about the warning signs and help available for mothers who are at risk of violence and being killed by their own children.

Carol Cameron was a nurse and tried repeatedly to get help for her son Callum, who suffered from both mental illness and drug abuse. Paramedics were at her home when he stabbed her 62 times following an overdose of psychedelic drugs.

It did not seem enough was done to get Callum the help needed that could have avoided Carol’s death.

“Just going to the police is not the only answer,” Fraser said.

“To say, ‘I’m frightened of my son’ – the police can encourage you to take out an intervention order, which I think are a very powerful tool, but the problem is, police aren’t living with the mother when an incident occurs when she’s frightened.”

Fraser said most families did not want to talk openly about violence between family members for fear of being judged.

“My belief is that a lot of it might be to do with shame ... but we need to start talking about it, we need to get it out in the open so that we can start getting these women some help before it’s too late.”

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Original URL: https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/high-profile-wa-cases-put-matricide-under-the-microscope-20250107-p5l2m5.html